μάγευμα ✸ pjo x hp

vi. εκτος

She was in the sea when the dream started. Deeper she went, falling into the fathoms of blackness. That water was not her element and it knew it. The chill dug at her bones, the salt scoured her face. The ocean's weight piled like mountains on her shoulders. But endurance had always been her virtue and she kept on. In the distance, she glimpsed the floating hulks of whales and giant squids. She gripped her knife, its edge sharp as the bronze could hold, but they too stayed away.

At last, she landed upon the sea's lowest floor. The sand was so cold it burned her feet. All was silent there, the water utterly still. The only light came from drifting strands of luminescence. He was wise, this god. To make his visitors travel to such a hostile place, where nothing lived but him.

She cried out: "Great lord of the deep, I am come from the world to challenge you."

She heard no sound. Around her stretched the blind expanse of salt. Then the darkness parted, and he came. Huge he was, white and gray, burned onto the depths like an afterimage of the sun. His silent wings rippled, rills of current flowing off their tips. His eyes were thin and slitted like a cat's, his mouth a bloodless slash. She stared. When she had stepped into the water, she had told herself that this would be only another Minotaur to wrestle, another Olympian she might outwit. But now, with his ghastly immensity before her, she quailed. This creature was older than all the lands of the world, old as the first drop of salt. Even her father would be like a child before him. She could no more stand against such a thing than stem the sea. Cold terror sluiced through her. Her whole life she had feared a great horror was coming for her. She did not have to wait anymore. It was here.

"For what purpose do you challenge me?" All the great gods have the power to speak in thoughts, but hearing that creature in her mind turned her belly to water.

"I come to win your poison tail."

"And why would you desire such strength?"

"Athena, daughter of Zeus, seeks my son's life. My power cannot protect him, but yours can."

His unblinking eyes rested on hers. "I know who you are, daughter of the sun. All that the sea touches comes to me at last in the depths. I have tasted you. I have tasted all your family. Your brother came once also seeking my power. He went away empty-handed, like all the rest. I am not such a one as you may fight."

Despair rolled through her, for she knew he spoke truth. All the monsters of the depths were covered in scars from battles with their brother leviathans. Not him. He was smooth all over, for none dared to cross his ancient power. Even Aeëtes had recognized his limit.

"Still," she said, "I must try. For my son."

"It is impossible."

The words were flat as the rest of him. Moment by moment, she could feel her will leaching from her, bled away by the relentless chill of those waves and his unblinking gaze. She forced herself to speak.

"I cannot accept that," she said. "My son must live."

"There is no must to the life of a mortal, except death."

"If I cannot challenge you, perhaps I can give you something in exchange. Some gift. Perform a task."

The slit of his mouth opened in silent laughter. "What could you have that I want?"

Nothing, she knew it. He regarded her with his pale cat eyes.

"My law is as it has ever been. If you would take my tail you must first submit to its poison. That is the price. Eternal pain in exchange for a few more mortal years for your son. Is it worth the cost?"

She thought of childbirth, which had nearly ended her. She thought of it going on and on with no cure, no salve, no relief.

"You offered the same to my brother?"